title: Repair of avascular meniscal injuries using juvenile meniscal fragments: an in vitro organ culture study.
abstract: We investigated whether the implantation of juvenile allograft and minced meniscal fragments could improve the healing of avascular meniscal injuries, which cannot heal spontaneously. Concentric cylindrical explants were excised from the inner two-thirds of swine medial menisci. The inner cylinder consisted of a "sandwich" structure, with minced juvenile meniscal fragments, juvenile meniscal columns, minced mature meniscal fragments, or mature meniscal columns implanted in the middle. The explants were cultured in vitro for 2, 4, or 6 weeks. Interfacial meniscal repair was assessed by histology, immunohistochemistry, biomechanical testing, and confocal laser scanning microscopy. Histology and confocal microscopy results revealed that tissue repair and cell accumulation at the interface were best at all time points in the juvenile meniscal fragments group, followed by the juvenile columns, minced mature fragments, and mature columns groups, respectively. At 6 weeks, the implantation of juvenile allograft and minced meniscal fragments increased the shear strength, peak force, and energy to failure in the peripheral interface. Picosirius red/polarized light microscopy and immunohistochemistry results showed concurrent expression of type I and II collagen in the interfacial repair tissue. In conclusion, implantation of juvenile allograft and minced meniscal fragments could increase the healing of avascular meniscal injury in vitro.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, Xiangya Hospital, Central-South University, 87 Xiangya Road, Changsha, 410078, Hunan, China.
authors.forename: Zhu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.forename: Kanghua
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Zhiwei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.forename: Lezhong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Chunlei
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Wenjun
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ding
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena / Q000502:physiology; D024042:Collagen Type I / Q000378:metabolism; D024043:Collagen Type II / Q000378:metabolism; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007718:Knee Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008592:Menisci, Tibial / Q000502:physiology / Q000637:transplantation*; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000379:methods; D033081:Shear Strength / Q000502:physiology; D013552:Swine; D000070600:Tibial Meniscus Injuries; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D024042:Collagen Type I; D024043:Collagen Type II
keywords: in vitro; injury; integrative repair; meniscus; organ culture